How to increase your conversion rate with an explanation video

If you’ve been searching for a way to increase your conversion rate, you’ve surely come across the same suggestion over and over again: start investing in video content. The numbers used to justify that seem pretty impressive.

Yet, you still aren’t convinced. You feel those numbers are too good to be true. There has to be some kind of marketing gimmick behind them all, right? Don’t look at us. At Yum Yum Videos, we’re pretty sold on the idea that videos are capable of giving you those numbers. True, you won’t just get them by putting out videos. You have to do more.

But before we tell you what that is, you have to understand how that increase in conversion rates works. And for that, we’ll have to take a deeper look into the cornerstone of any modern video marketing strategy worth its salt – the explanation video.

Explainer videos: the not-so-secret way to getting more leads

The basis of any business (including yours) is that the product or service being sold exists because it solves a specific problem. Productivity apps, food delivery, Uber, you name it. They all address specific issues that a big-enough audience wants to solve. So, if people are looking for solutions, it’s obvious that the businesses offering them want to be found by those people. Enter the explanation video and watch this cool example:

Basically, these videos offer a quick and easy explanation on how a product or service is the way to solve a problem. No lengthy articles, no number-infused charts, no complex tech jargon. Just a plain 30-90 second video that covers the basics on why the audience has to pick what you offer above everybody else.

That paragraph right there encompasses all the things that make explainer videos so great for marketing. Don’t see them? Let’s review them, one by one.

1 – They get the visitor’s attention immediately and for longer times

Movement, colors, faces. All of those things instantly capture the attention of people surfing the Web. All of them, of course, are included in an explainer video. And all of those elements drive people to watch those videos. The conclusion is evident – if people are watching videos, they’ll spend more time on your site, making it more likely for them to buy something from you. Watch how catchy this video can be:

2 – Videos reduce the bounce rate

Getting the visitor’s attention is key if you truly want to sell anything on the Internet. And given how hard is it to get people to pay attention these days, you have to seize any opportunity you might get. That’s why videos (explainer or not) are so fantastic – they are noticeable and people actually focus on them.

We said that this helps in getting a higher visit time on average, but it can also be understood as a reduced bounce rate. You certainly don’t want people to come and go from your website. You have to make them stay, look around, get the feel of your brand. Videos can do that for you.

3 – They make your business more understandable

Explanation videos are called that for a reason – they are used to explain products or services that are hard to grasp. Videos as short as these ones need to be crystal-clear and to-the-point if they are ever going to be successful. It’s a hard thing to master but if you do it right, you can boil down your business into a simple explanation anyone can understand.

That’s not all. Explainer videos (especially animated explainer videos) are perfect to help people picture themselves using the product or service in question. By focusing on a main character that resembles your core audience, the people you’re trying to sell to can put on her or his shoes and see how your product can change their lives. I’m here app is a great example of this, just watch:

In short, these videos can be short impactful pitch lines that talk directly into your target audience’s ears. You can’t put a price on that, especially because once the audience gets it, you’ll see a significant boost in your leads.

4 – Videos have incredible sharing potential

People go nuts for videos. They love to watch them on a daily basis and they love sharing them with friends and family even more. And if you know anything about marketing (or life in general), then you surely have to know that people trust people more than paid ads coming from businesses. Think about it. Would you rather use a product based on what an ad told you about it or based on a friend’s suggestion?

So, if your video gets shared, your product or service will be more noticeable and will bring more business to your door. Now, how can you do that? Creating a video that gets shared is never easy. But the reward can be so huge that it’s worth a shot. You just have to be imaginative and aim for that coveted increase in your conversion rates!

5 – Search engines are also in love with videos

Lately, search engines have been focusing on showing valuable content that is relevant to its users among the top results. Since millions of videos are watched every day, they get a special treat from the search engines. That’s especially true if your video gets shared or if its view count goes up into the sky.

In that context, the value of high quality videos’ needs to be reexamined. That’s because better videos tend to be watched more and shared more across the Web, which boosts their rankings. Do you know which sites convert the most? Yep, the ones that rank higher. If videos can get you to the top, then why not create some of your own?

What to do to get the best out of explanation videos

If explainer videos can do all of that, then we understand if you’re jumping out of your seat to go work on one of them. But before doing that, you have to know what you can do to get the most out of them. Like we said above, it takes a lot more than just making the video. There are several things you can tweak to get that increase in your conversion rate:

Get your thumbnail right: the first thing people will see from your video is its thumbnail, so you have to rock a great one. Don’t settle for a random frame. Use a custom thumbnail instead that shows a face or something intriguing. If you do, research promises you a boost in your play rate of 34%.

Paint your video with your brand’s colors: from the colors of your web player and its controls to everything that appears onscreen, you need to turn your brand’s colors into one of the main protagonists in the video. You want to boost your company’s awareness and this is one of the basic things you can do to achieve that. In fact, the colors of the thumbnail and player can increase your play rate by 53%.

Keep it short: a great explainer video is a short one. People don’t pay attention for long anymore. That’s why many studies recommend you keep the video below the 2-minute mark. Our experience has shown us that the best durations go from 1 minute to minute and a half with an average play rate of 70%.

Adjust your Call to actions: if the 3 points above make sure your video gets played, this one will capitalize on that to boost your conversions. Annotations and embedded lead generation forms are great here but consider the place where you put them. Sure, you may think about putting them at the video’s end, but some companies swear that putting them in the middle makes them perform even better. What you should take away from here is – test, test, test.

Go beyond the “single video” strategy: while a video will surely give you good results, you’ll get more benefits if you go past the explainer video and into a fully-fledged video marketing strategy. People need to be reminded of what you can do for them, and you can do that by a combination of great videos spread throughout your buyer’s journey. How-tos, educational videos, video ads and everything you can think of can work here.

Summing it all up

If you haven’t done anything with video for your brand, an explainer video should be among your top priorities. As you’ve read above, there are tons of benefits that come with it. The best thing about all of them is that they converge to provide you with what you’re looking for – an increase in your conversion rate.

Videos are a fantastic complementary tool to make sales, and people have grown accustomed to them to the point that they trust videos to make a purchase decision. Are you going to keep ignoring that fact or are you going to do something about it? If you made up your mind, then contact us and let’s discuss a custom strategy that will put you on millions of screens. The ball’s in your court now!